Cheap EQ3-2 mount

[kuro]

Posted this in beginners section but should have been in here.

I have secured what i think is a really good deal on an used EQ3-2 mount with motor drive, built in polar scope and completely as new. On further investigation I think its made by Phenix whose scopes are sold by Skies the Limit and these mounts look to be good quality in the pictures.

Anyone any experience of these?

At the end of the day at £70 its still got to be miles better than my current eq1.

[Cornelius Varley]

The Phenix mount is not the same as an EQ3-2. Also the pictures of the EQ3 mount I have seen don't have a polar scope or provision for one. You probably will be ok for £70.

Peter

[ythanpythan]

The eq3-2 can take a polar scope but doesn't come with it fitted as standard.

[kuro]

The Phenix mount is not the same as an EQ3-2. Also the pictures of the EQ3 mount I have seen don't have a polar scope or provision for one. You probably will be ok for £70.

Peter

I have had photos sent to me and it does have a polar scope and a bubble level. Looks similar to a skywatcher EQ3 but in a different colour.

Its identical to the mount in this listing.

eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

[Parus major]

Looks like an EQ3-2 to me, and it certainly does have a polarscope.

[Cornelius Varley]

It looks more like an EQ4 and is described as one. The EQ3-2 and EQ4 are not the same mount. The EQ4 is basically an EQ5 with thinner legs. Definitely not the same as a Synta EQ3-2. If it is the mount in the ebay listing you should be ok at £70.

Peter

[Domino]

The problem with mounts is that there is no agreed definition about the different types. What is described as an EQ3 is referred to as an EQ7 in the user handbooks for many of the scopes - possibly a 7 and 3 look very similar to someone not familiar to writing in our text.

However, working on a rough rule that the higher the number the bigger the mount then an EQ3 is smaller than an EQ4 which is smaller than an EQ5 etc.

As far as I am aware the EQ3-2 is the same mount as an EQ4. It comes with a polar scope provision and mainly, the polarscopes are included. Most of these have provision for an RA motor drive but there are some available that can accept dual axis motor drives.

There is a lot of difference between the EQ4 and EQ5. The EQ5 is a heavier mount and uses ball bearings on the axes whereas the EQ4 and lower use metal to metal bearings. EQ5s usually have a motor box cover for a RA motor and a Dec motor provision is usually there.

The one thing they all have in common is the horrible grease that is used in the construction. It is like a cross between grease and Araldite and a devil of a job to get off your hands and clothes. However, if you can spend some time carefully dismantling the mount and washing this stuff out with white spirit and replacing it with something softer, such as LM Grease, then the results are brilliant - finger tip movement.

Hope that helps

Alan - STL

[Cornelius Varley]

Not quite right. The original Synta EQ4 and EQ5 used the same equatorial head, the difference between the two is that the EQ4 used the lighter legs of the EQ3-2. The Synta EQ5 still uses plain bearings, the Celestron version of the mount (CG5) has ball bearings. Skywatcher dropped the EQ4 mount a number of years ago to rationalise the mount range.

Peter

[newman]

I used to own an EQ3-2 and can confirm that while the mount doesn't come with a built-in polar scope, it does have a mounting hole for it. It's really a great little mount if you have a light enough scope for it.

[kuro]

Picked it up today, needed a cleanup but has come up great. Its a really sturdy piece of kit and is pretty well put together. I cant say how it compares to a skywatcher eq3-2 as i have never seen one up close but would be interesting to see if there are any quality differences.

I had trouble with the motor which needed a bit of rewiring to get it to work but its fine now.

I have no instructions so can anyone shed any light on the speeds as i have never had a motor drive before. It has 8x and 2x speeds but when you dont press any buttons it still moves really slowly.

[Parus major]

The no button really slowly setting could be tracking, assuming it's slow enough.

[kuro]

The no button really slowly setting could be tracking, assuming it's slow enough.

Yes it is really slow, seems like it hardly moving. I'll have to see how it goes when get clear skies again.

[Parus major]

That should be it tracking so it's all ticking over as a nice bargain for you.